Both items are cut-away segments of aircraft canvas, prominently featuring a cross insignia of a pattern used by the Luftstreitkraefte of Imperial Germany in World War I. Both canvas segments have a camouflage base coat, with the crosses rendered in black with white borders. 1) Cross pattee/iron cross pattern canvas, 32 inches wide and 25 inches tall, with the cross measuring about 25 inches square and a two-tone green and brown base coat. The pattee would be the German standard at war's start up until about March 1918. A small inventory number "94-228" has been added to one corner. The canvas rests on white matting in a single sided frame with a Bonhams lot sticker in the corner; the Bonhams lot listing attributes the canvas as being from a downed Albatross D.III biplane fighter, as well as being formerly of the inventory of the Mountfitchet Castle Museum in Essex. 2) Balkenkreuz pattern canvas, with a tight matting around the cross creating a viewing area roughly 19" square. The glass and matte are double sided, the front showing the cross and the back showing a cross-shaped panel of hexagonal blue/brown/green base finish. The balkenkreuz would enter service in March 1918, and become a mainstay German insignia through World War II and beyond. Provenance: The Putnam Green/Sycamore Collection
Both are very good, with cracking and flaking of the paint appropriate to age and travel.
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